Lots of customization-errors since View 3.1

[Steven_Rodenbur]

View 3.01 ran fine. The long time taken by the customization-process was succesfully reduced by adding the PnPTimeout registry-entry (60 seconds) in the parent VM.

I installed a whole new machine with 3.1 and removed the Agent 3.01 and installed the 3.1 agent in it. Made a new snapshot and took that as the one to link the clones from.

However. Since 3.1 i see a lot of VM's ending in a "error" state instead of "ready". I never had that problem in 3.01.

The error is:

"The VM: /Site1/vm/VDI-Desktops/VDI_XP_Persistent/VDI_XP_Fixed_3 - encountered an error: 11-6-09 17:17:18 uur CEST: View Composer agent initialization"

Additional details from the log:

"The VM: /Site1/vm/VDI-Desktops/VDI_XP_Persistent/VDI_XP_Fixed_3 - encountered an error: 11-6-09 17:17:18 uur CEST: View Composer agent initialization state error (6): Unknown failure (waited 0 seconds)"

Composer is still build 126338 as there is no newer one. VC = 2.5U4 and ESX = 3.5U4.

I cannot find the cause for this problem. The worst thing is that users can still log in to such a VM but they will end up seeing a frozen desktop with nothing to click on.

It happens at random. I can "recompose" all i want, but it's always a different VM that gets in trouble, or the same VM's will never ever reach a "ready" state.

I tried to enlarge the PnPTimeout registry-entry to 180 seconds in the parent VM but that does not seem to have any effect. To be honest, i don't know if it is related to the problem at all. I was just trying. I ofcourse recomposed all VM's with that new setting.

[vmsf]

Steven,

I have encountered the same issue and the error I am getting is "6/10/09 2:06:42 PM EDT: View Composer agent initialization state error (-1): Illegal state (waited 360 seconds)" and before that I was getting a different error related to View Composer. What I have found is that everything works fine with View Agent 3.0.1 until you upgrade that. Haev you tried just removing the agent and installing 3.0.1?

It seems like a bug in the View Agent.

[cdl_0007]

same problem for me, Fresh install 3.1

"View Composer agent initialization state error (6): Unknown failure (waited 0 seconds)"

[RLI27]

Hi Steven

There is a newer Composer Version "VMware-viewcomposer-1.1.0-161885.exe" which may fix your problem (I have not tried myself - yet).

HIH, cheers

Roger

[Steven_Rodenbur]

Status-update:

I've got Composer 1.1.0 build 161885 running for a few days now but it stays russian roulete.

VM's still erratically end up in a error-state with the before mentioned error-message.

I can recompose a dozen times and the outcome is totally unpredictable with the PnPtimeout set to 60 seconds.

When i set the timeout to 180 seconds though, the succesrate is much higher and VM's only occasionly end up braindead. So the default of 5 minutes (no PnPtimeout entry in the registry) will be even better i suppose. I just got fed up with the long time it takes to customize, hence my experiments with the PnPtimeout setting.

In View 3.01 with Composer 1.0, i had a 95% succesrate with it set to 60 seconds.

In View 3.1 with Composer 1.1 i really need that 180 seconds to get the same success-rate.

But at least it is working satisfactory again. Although the long time it takes to customize a VM stays a source of annoyance.

[Steven_Rodenbur]

Unfortunatly we still get too much VM's ending up in an error-state. On rare occasions, a VM never even exits the "customization" phase.

The workaround is to keep recomposing such a VM until it enters a ready-state. After how many attempts that happens is variable...

Not my idea of fun though...

[vmsf]

Steven,

I have tested with a vanilla xp image and that seems to work - have not seen any errors.

What applications are you running on your image that is not working?

Thanks.

[Steven_Rodenbur]

Just XP UK with SP3 and Office2007 SP2, IE8, Mediaplayer 10.

But i don't see why applications have anything to do with the customization-process. That is an "OS only" affair if you ask me.

Normally, the PnPtimeout parameter in the registry is not present. The built-in default is 300 seconds. That is probably enough time. But a tip was given here to use this parameter to shorten the time needed to customize considerably. In 3.01 this parameter could be set to 60 seconds which did a wonderfull job.

Now with 3.1 a setting of 120 seconds still causes a lot of braindead VM's. Setting it to 180 makes it a bit better. I will test it with the setting removed (which is the default state the View agent installer leaves behind) and see if that helps.

It would be a shame if this parameter can no longer be used anymore because the time it takes to customize by default, is downright anyoing. Deploying hundreds of VM's takes an eternity then...

[Steven_Rodenbur]

New observation (still with PnPtimeout @ 120 seconds): VM's that end up in an error-state (with before mentioned error) revert to a Ready state a few minutes later...

Some VM's stay in that error-state but a lot of them end up "Ready" when i wait for 3 or 4 minutes. Wierd...

[sysbeheer]

Hi there,

same overhere.. Found out that reinstalling the vmware view agent did the trick.

Make sure this is the last thing you do on the gold image then it seems to work fine for now.

Will test more tomorrow. Going for the reference rol-out on thursday... fingers crossed.

[Steven_Rodenbur]

Hi sysbeheer,

Yesterday was the big day. How did it go ?